Top 10 Ministry Songs

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Ministry was first formed in 1981 in the city of Chicago, Illinois. They would become one of the most important Industrial rock bands to emerge from the Classic Rock period. The band was founded by musician Al Jourgensen. The band would undergo many lineup changes throughout its history, but the one constant was Jourgensen. The band has released sixteen studio albums since the group’s debut in 1983. Their most recent album Hopiumforthemasses was released in 2024.

# 10 – No W

2004’s Houses of the Mole was the first album not to feature longtime bassist Paul Barker and the first of what was dubbed their “anti-George Bush” trilogy, with all the lyrics attacking then-president Bush. “No W’s.” The title is ironic because it is actually the only song on the album not to begin with W. It was the album’s first single. There is another version of it that appears on later editions of the album. This version is often called the redux version because it is slightly shorter and does not include all the samples from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”

This version was also included on the soundtrack for the video games Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Tony Hawk’s Underground 2. Although they are both considered the same version of the song, the latter is slightly different because it still features a sample of a speech by George W. Bush, which the former does not. The Redux version also features a guitar solo that is not included in the extended version.

# 9 – Lies Lies Lies

“Lies Lies Lies” is from 2006’s Rio Grande Blood and was nominated for a Grammy, but like all of their other nominations, they did not win, losing out to Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” for Best Metal Performance. “Lies Lies Lies “is one of the band’s fastest and heaviest songs. It is also one of their angriest songs, with lyrics that are a scathing attack on the Bush administration. It features audio samples from the documentary Loose Change, which was a series of films arguing in favor of conspiracy theories relating to the September 11 attacks. The video also used imagery of the then-president to mock him.

# 8 – Just One Fix

It is a well-known fact that Jourgensen battled with Heroin addiction for 18 years, and “Just One Fix” was written during that time. It is from 1992’s Psalm 69 and begins with a sample quote from the film Sid and Nancy about Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, who were both also heroin users. It was the album’s third single. The video, directed by Peter Christopherson of the band Coil, featured footage of author William S. Burroughs, who is one of Jourgenson’s biggest influences, and also served as the single’s cover art. It was later covered by the thrash band Sepultura on their album Kairos.

The song “Du Hast” by Rammstein is very similar in sound to “Just One Fix,” which has led many to believe that the guitar riff is sampled directly from it. However, members of Ramstein have stated that the song sounds the way it does simply because of Ministry’s influence on them.

# 7 – Bad Blood

“Bad Blood” appeared in 1999’s Dark Side of the Spoon, which, as well as being a play on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, was also a reference to heroin. It was featured on the soundtrack to the 1999 film The Matrix. It was also nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 42nd Grammy Awards. The single also included an instrumental track, “Happy Dust,” which was never released on any of the band’s albums. It was, however, used as the intro and outro track for the Sphinctour DVD.

# 6 – Jesus Built My Hotrod

“Jesus Built My Hotrod,” from Psalm 69, is one of Ministry’s most celebrated songs due to its general quirkiness. It features “vocals” from Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers, which are really just him making gibberish over the industrial riff. It was first released as a single, and it charted at number 19 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts.

There are several different accounts of how the song came about. It is generally believed that it originated when Ministry and the Butthole Surfers were playing together at Lollapalooza. As well as being an industrial metal track, it also features elements of rockabilly and psychobilly, being particularly influenced by the 1963 Trashmen hit “Surfin’ Bird.”

# 5 – Burning Inside

From 1989’s The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste. The use of a drum machine often comes across as lacking in feeling, but Jourgensen has always had a way of making them work. It was the only single to be released from the album. The band Burning Inside named themselves after it. “Burning Inside” was also featured in a Scarface game titled The World is Yours. It was later covered by Static X featuring Burton C Bell from Fear Factory on guest vocals.

The band released a video for the song, which became a big hit on MTV. It depicted the band playing a live show, surrounded by a metal fence that served as a stage prop on the tour supporting this album. A live version later appeared on the live recording In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up, released in 1990.

# 4 – Thieves

“Thieves” from The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste is a fiercely political track known for its use of samples from the 1987 Vietnam War film Full Metal Jacket. It is the opening track on the album and the B-side to “Burning Inside”. Its lyrics deal with Political Corruption. It has been featured in the 1992 film Freejack and the 2009 video game Brutal Legend. “Thieves” features extensive use of the E minor chord with Jourgensen singing in the G Note all the way through while the song changes its rhythm.

Limp Bizkit often performed a cover of “Thieves” live throughout the 90s before finally releasing a studio version in 2013. Several reviews expressed the opinion that they butchered it.

# 3 – N.W.O

Next on the list is “N.W.O.”, the group’s biggest hit, which reached number 11 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart. From Psalm 69, “N.W.O” is also anti-Bush, but not the same one. It was the opening track on the album and its second single. It was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1993 Grammys and was featured on the soundtrack to the 1992 film Cold World.

The promotional single featured two mixes of “N.W.O.” and was released around the same time as the album. The promotional video took the opportunity to get across the message of the song in a visual way, as it showed footage of police beatings, riots, and gunfights. The video was featured on Beavis and Butthead, and the song was featured on another Need for Speed game called The Run.

# 2 – Stigmata

“Stigmata” is taken from 1998’s The Land of Rape and Honey, which is widely considered to be the first true Ministry album after the first two synth-based efforts. Jourgensen still regards it as his favorite Ministry album to this day. It is the album’s opening track and, two years later, was featured in the sci-fi movie Hardware, rather bizarrely, with shock rock band GWAR shown “performing” it. It is one of the band’s most popular songs, having been featured in several movies and games.

The song features distorted vocals and guitars as well as a compressed drum loop. It was a big Underground hit.

# 1 – Every Day is Halloween

This is probably a bit of a surprise, considering it is the only song on this list from the band’s early synth period, but at number 1 is “Every Day is Halloween,” lifted from Twelve Inch Singles (1981-1984). This track is rather reminiscent of early New Order (and, as a result, Joy Division to a lesser extent). Its use of programmed drums, keyboards, and bass line shows that the British electronic act was clearly a big influence on Ministry at this point in their career.

The track is very much an 80’s goth track, so many reading this are probably questioning what warrants its place at the top spot when it contains so little of the metal sound that has made the band’s career. The answer is simply that it is a great track, showing that even though this period of the band is often written off by both fans and the band as something of a false start, that is not entirely the case, as they did write some very good material during this period.